


An Indirect Kiss

by CameoAmalthea



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, One-Sided Attraction, thirsty jester lavorre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25446358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CameoAmalthea/pseuds/CameoAmalthea
Summary: Jester reflects on her relationship with The Traveler
Relationships: Artagan/Jester Lavorre, Jester Lavorre & The Traveler, Jester Lavorre/The Traveler
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	An Indirect Kiss

Jester takes a bite of her caramel apple, satisfied, then flounces off, treat held high. A wet crunching sound draws her focus back to the apple in her hand. A bite is gone, taken by one invisible.

“Traveler”

Her heart skips a beat, and a grin spreads over her features, glad to have him with her. Near, but unseen, playful as always. She turns the apple to examine the bite mark. His mouth is wider than hers.

She brings the apple to her lips and slowly licks it, hoping she can still taste him—an indirect kiss.

She wonders what the others would say if they saw her like this. ‘You make out with your god?’

Jester didn’t think anyone else would understand. After all, nobody had the type of relationship they had together. It was special.

She misses him. When she was little, he was around all the time. The only other child in her life. A little red-haired half-elf boy, but magical. Momma had called him imaginary then. As Jester grew older, and he stayed for far longer than imaginary friends and childhood fancies, Jester had learned the truth. He was a god.

She was halfway into her teens but still in pigtails when she confronted him with that.

“I know what you are,” she told the teenage boy who walked hand in hand with her out onto her hidden balcony.

He stopped to look at her, surprised. “You do?”

“You’re a god,” she said matter of factly.

He looked confused for a moment and then laughed. “Is that what you want me to be, Jester?”

“Well,” she’d said, “I’m glad you’re just my friend, but you had to know I’d figure it out eventually. Like you can do magic, and no one else can see you. And - And,” she held up one finger, “you can be like my age, but sometimes you’d be an adult. You could just change into whatever I needed. So yeah, you’re a god. You could have just told me, you know.” She crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.

He changed then, appearing before her as a tall figure, smiling down on her beneath the hood of a green cloak. “I’ve always told you, I’m but a traveler,” he said. “But if you have prayers, I’d answer them.”

Jester’s mouth fell open, staring in wonder. She’d known he could change, of course, she'd practically made the fact an accusation. It was just, she hadn't seen him before, not really. When she was little and couldn’t sleep he’d come to visit her and tell her bedtime stories. He’d been an adult them, voice deep and loving, a favorite baby sitter. But she hadn’t really seen him then, it was dark, after all, and she was supposed to close her eyes and listen. Now she saw him clearly and knew she was looking at a god.

A god who was willing to answer any prayer. Except...Jester wasn’t even sure what she would pray for at the moment. “I...I just want you to be my friend.”

He changed again, now the boy once more the same age as her. “I am your friend, always,” he told her.

“I’m friends with a god!” she said, “how cool is that? Like really cool! You’re really cool.” She’d hugged him then, and he felt solid and warm in her arms. Then she pulled back and asked, “How should I worship you?”

“By doing whatever makes you happy,” he answered.

“Like drawing?” she asked.

“I love your art,” he told her. “I could teach you more if you’d like, although it would be in the form you saw before...like this,” he gestured himself, “I’m no more advanced than you.”

“Teach me things, like magic?” she asked, eyes bright with excitement. She read the surprise on his face. “Oh…. you meant like art.”

“Well-”

Before he could continue Jester carried on. “So technically, you can be my age, and then be an adult and then be a kid again and when you’re a kid, you’re just like a kid so you can’t teach me anything.”

“Essentially,” he said, “I’m not just pretending to be a teenage boy. That would be weird. I am what you see. Unfortunately, that does limit what I know. We’re the same age, so I’m on the same level as you. But-”

“Oh well, I guess that makes sense. Like when I was little I wouldn’t want another kid trying to tell me bedtime stories. How would someone that young remember? I mean I still remember all of the stories. So in your god form, you like, know everything, and could teach me whatever-”

“If you’d like to learn magic,” he offered “I can grant certain abilities.”

“Really?”

“Of course! How would you like to learn to change your appearance?”

“Oh cool!” she said, “Could be a bird or a butterfly? Something that flies over walls and sees everything.”

“You might get lost,” said the traveler, “bird and butterflies aren’t as clever as you are my dear. You wouldn’t be able to change the way I can, body and mind, at least not yet. It’s a bit advanced. For now, I can show you how to wear an illusion like a mask. People will see what you want them to see.”

“We could trick people?” they both suggested their sing-song voices in unison. The two teenagers mirrored one another perfectly, their faces sporting matching smirks. Jester broke into a fit of giggles. They were always on the same page.

“Oooh, that sounds really cool,” she said. “So am I like your cleric?”

The smile fell from his face. He looked...troubled. He was silent, contemplative, then as if unsure what to say.

“I mean,” said Jester, “we’ll still be best friends. Like nothing between us has to change.”

He sighed and smiled then. “I will be whatever you need, my Jester.”

She blushed as he called her ‘my’ and said her name. The new name that she’d recently chosen for herself. Before she’d been Genevieve, he’d called her Genny, and sometimes she’d called him Keelyn though she guessed that wasn’t his real name. He’d told her, ‘you can call me Keelyn, I am a traveler.’

A traveler.

The Traveler.

A god.

Her god.

She thought of him possessively—her longtime friend and partner in crime. In everything, really. Well, never in kissing. Not actual kissing.

In the present, Jester takes another bite of her apple. She misses him. Being out in the world and him being a god meant he wasn’t always around. They couldn’t hold hands the way they used to, and she wonders if she’d be allowed to kiss him. She wants to kiss him.

As she’d grown into her twenties, she found herself more and more attracted to his true form, what she could see of it anyway. Even with a hood covering most of his features, she knew he was sexy. His voice. His smile. His lips. She’d thought a lot about his lips.

Currently, her lips are wet with juice, and the sweetness of the caramel lingers on her tongue. Would his kiss be even sweeter?


End file.
